Excluded Volume Effect-induced Shrinkage for Resolution Enhancement of Hydrogel Bioconstructs

Excluded volume effect-induced shrinkage (EVER) enables dehydration-enabled resolution enhancement of gelatin-based hydrogel constructs, achieving up to ~49% dimensional reduction and ~87% estimated volumetric reduction.

• Why it matters: Hydrogel biofabrication is limited by process-specific resolution constraints, and there is a need for hardware-independent post-processing that refines dimensions while preserving shape and cell compatibility.
• What they did: Biofabricated constructs were treated in a hydrophilic macromolecular crowding agent bath using poloxamer, with secondary crosslinking used to stabilize shape fidelity after shrinkage.
• The result: In extrusion bioprinted cell-laden constructs, myoblasts retained considerable viability right after shrinkage and recovered significantly by day 1, showing spreading and increasing proliferation over 7 days.